Chapter Text
Eve was about to break a promise she had made to herself today.
On any other day, Eve would do her usual routine of going into the Minute Mart when Suki was at the till, pick up a single pack of 89p gum all for the sole purpose of talking to Suki, trying to get her to see what Nish was doing to her.
But every attempt was always met with Suki's Ice Queen walls. She would always defend her husband even when he was in the wrong and say that the time they had together before Nish came out of prison was all a mistake.
Though she could tolerate it with the gut feeling that Suki saying those hurtful comments was just her being afraid of accepting herself as being attracted to a woman, Eve feared that hearing them on Valentines Day of all days would be enough to break her.
So, Eve promsied herself that she wouldn't go into the Minute Mart today no matter what. If they needed change, she would go to the Vic. If she saw Suki, she'd fight the urge to go and talk to her.
But after seeing Stacey's uplift from her chaotic day, Eve saw that anything was possible, including her being with her soulmate, so she decided to finally break her self promise and volunteered to go to the Minute Mart to stock up on some needed groceries as well as some chocolaty goods to celebrate "Bapman and Bapboy" A.K.A Freddie and Bobby selling all their baps.
When she entered, the shop was vacant. No one was at the till.
"Sorry, I was doing a…!" came a voice from the storage room and out of it came Suki, who froze when she saw Eve.
"… stock take." she finished her sentence in a calmer voice.
Eve's eyebrow raised "You're saying sorry for taking a stock take?"
Suki didn't respond, instead just walked over to the till as Eve watched her. She wasn't in that ridiculous uniform Nish made her wear.
Eve dared herself to ask as she looked around, grabbing the groceries "What happened to the branding?"
"I explained to Nish that the uniform seemed out of date and he agreed with me… because he's my husband."
"Really?"
"Yes, really. Because I am still in control." Her words would be selling to anyone else, but Eve knew otherwise.
Unlike most people, Eve knew about coercive control. She had read about it and had even met a few victims of this form of abuse back when she could still legally practise law. Nearly every time, abusers would trick their victims into thinking they were in control of a situation. She'd been able to help those victims. She hoped she still had it in her.
"Let me guess, he said something along the lines of "It was always your choice whether to wear it or not." even though he was the one who told you to wear it in the first place."
Suki looked away from her as she said "I chose to wear it Eve."
Eve just sighed quietly as she placed down a pint of milk, a loaf of bread, some tea bags and to celebrate Freddie and Bobby's success, 4 different bags of chocolate and a single medium bar of Dairy Milk chocolate. She wanted to continue the debate, but knew by now it would just end with Suki defending her husband yet again.
"That's…" Eve expected her to say the total cost of the shopping before her. The long pause however gave Eve hope that Suki would say something realising the control Nish had on her.
"… a lot of chocolate."
Eve was slightly disappointed, but at least Suki was still talking to her about something. So, she went along with that.
"Yeah well, you get sick after a while of the same old daily routine of healthy eating and decide to have a bag of Malteasers for your tea."
It was only for a moment, but Suki gave a little laugh and smile. That was enough to make Eve's night for now. The Suki she knew was still in there wanting to come out, but she wouldn't push it further. At least not for now.
"My wife and I are having a little party after we came into a little success after what started out as a bad day. That's what the chocolates are for."
"That's £14.50." Suki said while sounding a little sad. Eve felt for her as she was guessing that Suki was feeling very lonely while others were having fun.
As she pulled out a tenner a five pound note, Eve asked "You don't wanna join, do you? I think they boys will wanna teach me and Stace the Bap Dance they came up with. Probably the kids too."
"I'm still working… besides, Nish will be coming soon."
Eve saw another sign of coercive control. Abusers would expect their victims to only go to certain places to keep them isolated and would also monitor their whereabouts.
She hated to leave Suki on her own and wanted so badly to stay. To wait for Nish to come so she could confront him about the emotional and psychological abuse and show Suki that it was possible for her to leave him and for the two of them to live Happily Ever After.
But Eve knew that this would only work if Suki wanted that to happen and right now, she was too afraid to stand up to him. So while Eve couldn't do much now, she would be patient and keep trying to bring back the Suki she once knew.
So she loaded the groceries into the bag and said "Keep the change. Night Suki."
As she opened the door and was about to head out, Suki called out to her while holding out the Dairy Milk chocolate "You forgot this."
As Eve faced her, she looked at the chocolate hardly.
"No I didn't." She said with feigned confusion.
As Suki's eyes widened with realisation, Eve softly said "Happy Valentines Day." and then left before Suki could get a word in. She hoped as she walked away that Suki wouldn't just put it back on the shelf and while it was a small gesture, Eve's smile didn't leave her face the whole walk back home.
Eve's prediction's were right. Freddie and Bobby kept doing their newly invented Bap Dance for the kids and felt she and Stacey should learn it. They did the dance to several different song genres and it was fun until Bobby decided it was late and went to head home. After that, Stacey took her kids upstairs to bed.
"Next time, get one bag of chocolate. With that much sugar, they'll probably stay awake the rest of the month." Stacey said to Eve as she came back down the stairs.
"Yeah, my bad."
Stacey saw Bobby and Freddie still at the door. He was probably saying goodbye for the night until Stacey saw him bend down to pick something up.
"Uh, there's a card here." he said giving it to Freddie.
"Aw, I wonder if it's from that girl i got a date with." he said sounding all excited as he ran back inside to Stacey and Eve
"Uh, Fr-Freddie…" Bobby tried to say something, but Freddie was already tearing through the envelope. He followed him back in.
"Let's see what she said, maybe rescheduling the date since i couldn't make it tonight."
Eve encouraged him to read it as at least someone should have an easy shot at love.
He took out the card and read it it out loud "Roses are red, Violets are blue…" the front of the card read. As Freddie opened the card to see the inside, he frowned.
Stacey and Eve saw this.
"What's wrong Freddie? They have impossible to read handwriting?" Stacey asked.
Freddie shook his head "Nah, it… the message inside doesn't make sense."
"IT'S FOR EVE FREDDIE! Bobby blurted out.
They all turned to him. He explained "Your name's on the envelope Eve."
They all looked at the almost obliterated light pink envelope and did indeed see Eve's name written on it in a handwriting that only Eve recognised.
Freddie handed her the card slowly "Sorry Eve."
But Eve wasn't listening. Her attention was all focused to this card and what it said. Inside the card was a 50p coin, a pack of minty gum and words she read aloud along with the front of the card.
"Roses are red, Violets are blue… if I was braver, I would be with you. Happy Valentines Day. x"
Though there wasn't a name signed on the card, Eve knew it was Suki. They were the very words Suki had written on a simple piece of paper just as it seemed she was about to go to prison for Ranveer's murder. This confirmed what Eve knew the whole time. That the Suki she knew was still there and still wanted to be with her. Eve teared up a little as she smiled the this thought. Stacey putting an arm round her brought her out of it.
"There's no name on the card. Do you know who it's from Eve?" Freddie asked.
Eve nodded "Yeah I do. It's from someone who isn't ready for everyone to know that she's in the LGBT+ community… but she's letting me know that as small as it is, she has hope like I do that one day…"
She wiped her tears away and hugged the card to her chest "… one day, she'll be brave enough to be with me."